Friday, October 17, 2013

It’s another sunny day here in The Canaries.  Talking with our waiter last night it seems that we picked an excellent week to be here since tourism really starts to kick in next week.  As a result the beaches and walkways are not crowded and one does not need to make a reservation for a restaurant.  I just spent an hour or so on the beach and left Susan there to bask in the sun.  We will get a bite to eat at 2:30 and at 5:30 we will head to Telde to catch up with Juliet and family for a swim at the local beach followed by a pizza dinner.

Yesterday Juliet took us to Teror, a hill town that is about 25 minutes away from the center of town.  The ride out there was quite scenic and the highway system here in Las Palmas is second to none.  I imagine that the quality of the roads decline when you get further out where the pueblos are, but I am only guessing.           Teror is the source for most of the bottled water that is sold here in Las Palmas.  It is part of a conscious effort to encourage people to buy local.  Being so far from the mainland, one gets the impression thatLas Palmas, and perhaps the other islands, like to think of themselves a self-sufficient,although like all autonomias – they are dependent on the national government for funding all services.

Teror is a small city with a main square and the streets that lead you to it dating from the 16th century.  The balconies of the houses that line the street are part of its fame and so is the chorizo and morcilla that are produced in that area.  The chorizo, both red and white is more pate-like as opposed to its usual resemblance to pepperoni.  The morcilla is both sweet and spreadable, too.

We wended our way through the streets and stopped here and there to look into a shop or two.  I could not resist and I picked up a T shirt to add to my collection.  Heeding the suggestion of a local we stopped at Bar Inma and had some lunch.  We shared everything including a bocadillo de chorizo,  a chickpea stew, and some fried fish.  The fish was so go with its green mojo that we ordered a second plate.  We passed on dessert, but we all had coffee and a chupito.  The meal that also included two steins of beer and ywo glasses of wine came to a grand total of 27 Euros.  When we finished our meal we headed back to town and Juliet dropped us off a block away from the hotel.

We stayed in the room for a while and at 9:00 we ventured forth in search of a bite to eat.  We ended up at Madrid II where we had enjoyed a pleasant lunch on Monday.  Our waiter, who had celebrated his birthday on Tuesday, was back to work and he greeted us warmly.  Susan and I shared a salad and a palte of steak filets.  Susan wanted some papas arrugadas and I was in the mood for fries and that posed no problem for our waiter.  Dessert consisted of coffee and a chupito.  We then headed back to our room and read for a while before we turned off the lights.